A woman lied about being kidnapped and raped, wasting more than 200 hours of police time.

Marissa Louise Cheeseman, 37, said she was abducted by two men in Whitby and driven to Middlesbrough , before being repeatedly raped.

Cheeseman was visiting the seaside town for Whitby Folk Festival in August 2017, and claimed she had been asked for directions by a man driving a van.

She said she was then forced into the back of a van alongside another man before being driven to Middlesbrough where she was sexually assaulted.

But all of this was a lie.

On receiving the report, the Scarborough Serious Crime Team immediately launched a major investigation with 25 officers from various departments, including some called in from rest days, and officers from the Cleveland Major Incident Team worked on the inquiry.

After four days of extensive enquiries and more than 208 hours of police time, officers were satisfied that the allegations were untrue.

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Detective Inspector Glenn Kelly of Scarborough Serious Crime Team, said: “The time and resources dedicated to this extremely serious allegation reflected the gravitas with which we regard all such reports.

“It is very frustrating for everyone involved in such an intensive investigation to find that the report was made up. “Particularly when there are genuine victims of crime who need our help.

“Proceeding with such prosecutions is not taken lightly and only when it is in the public interest to do so will it be considered.

“In this instance, there was a considerable diversion of policing resources and cost to the public purse, which had this been a genuine report, would have been the absolute right thing to do, but it was not genuine.

“Although a figure of 208 hours of police time has been quantified, the actual figure is likely to be much higher given the resources allocated to the investigation.

“We may never know what motivated Cheeseman to make such claims, but what is of concern is that false reports undermine genuine victims of serious sexual crime.

“It is vital that victims are not affected by false reporting and that they are reassured that when they do report such horrendous crimes to the police, they will be treated as an absolute priority, with urgency, sensitivity and confidentiality.”

If you have been a victim of sexual crime, no matter when it happened, please report it to the police on 101.